Most people trace the origins of the computer to three people: Alan Turing, the World War II cryptologist; John von Neumann, the father of scientific computing; and Steve Jobs, the popularizer of the personal computer. They're wrong. The true story is much more complex, and infinitely more interesting.

It begins at a time when computers were people, when women numbering in the hundreds sat together in a crowded room performing simple tasks and functioning as a whole, as a giant information-processing machine. From this humble beginning, the digital electronic marvel of today began to take shape. Here is the story of such early pioneers as William Mauchley, who tried to build a machine that would enable racetracks to post up-to-the-last-minute odds, and the riveting tale of Jay Forrester, whose determination to build a flight simulator led to the development of the first successful real-time computer. Flowing like a page-turning thriller, with each unlikely piece of the computer's development falling into place, this fully documented, myth-breaking history finally sets the record straight and gives proper credit to the unsung heroes of the computer revolution.

Most people trace the origins of the computer to three people: Alan Turing, the World War II cryptologist; John von Neumann, the father of scientific computing; and Steve Jobs, the popularizer of the personal computer. They're wrong. The true story is much more complex, and infinitely more interesting.

It begins at a time when computers were people, when women numbering in the hundreds sat together in a crowded room performing simple tasks and functioning as a whole, as a giant information-processing machine. From this humble beginning, the digital electronic marvel of today began to take shape. Here is the story of such early pioneers as William Mauchley, who tried to build a machine that would enable racetracks to post up-to-the-last-minute odds, and the riveting tale of Jay Forrester, whose determination to build a flight simulator led to the development of the first successful real-time computer. Flowing like a page-turning thriller, with each unlikely piece of the computer's development falling into place, this fully documented, myth-breaking history finally sets the record straight and gives proper credit to the unsung heroes of the computer revolution.